Weight Loss Habit Boot Camp Sleep

Do you get enough sleep? Did you know your sleep patterns or the lack there of can effect you weight loss?

Welcome to the fifth week of Weight Loss Habit Boot Camp. Each week we will be working on a new habit that will help us along in our journey. It is so easy to get into the mind-set that it is all or nothing. While I do think it is important to be working on eating healthy, exercise, good sleep habits and a few more. This is really going to be baby steps each week.

Be mindful of the habit your working on.

If you mess up in other areas don’t give up and throw in the towel.

Find 1-2 ways to keep yourself accountable during this challenge! Find an accountability partner be a friend or hubby or right here! There will be a check in every Saturday evening. I will share how I did and you can leave a comment I would love to connect! Keep a fitness log!

Remember it’s a battle and a hard one! Prepare yourself and Keep going!

It takes 21 days to form a new habit. Each week as we add a new one don’t stop working on the previous weeks habit.

And the new habit to add to our list this week is getting enough sleep. This is a much-needed habit. I think most of us try to burn the candle at both ends.

When we don’t get enough sleep we tend to eat more and gain weight.

Weight Loss Habit Boot Camp Sleep

Effects of Not Getting Enough Sleep

Sleep impacts your diet

We have all heard the saying “eat less move more” which you do have to do to lose wight but if you’re not getting enough sleep it will affect the amount of weight you lose. Less than 7 hours of sleep at night can undo the benefits of a healthy diet.

Poor Sleep habits effect your metabolism

When you don’t get enough sleep at night especially multiple nights in a row your body suffers from “metabolic grogginess.” Not getting enough sleep disrupts your hormones and your body become more insulin resistant. When insulin works properly it remove fatty acids and lipids from your blood stream and prevents storage. When your body become more insulin resistant lipids (fats) circulate in your blood causing your body to produce more insulin and then it stores the fat in all the wrong places like your liver and this is how you become fat and can suffer from other diseases like diabetes.

Lack of Sleep Makes you Crave MORE FOOD

Lack of sleep may cause an internal battle! When you don’t sleep enough your cortisol levels rises. This hormone is associated with fat gain. And when you don’t get enough sleep it drives you to eat more food to and toward food you know you shouldn’t eat.

Lack of Sleep effects your Exercise

Lack of sleep can cause muscle loss. It also makes it harder for your body to recover from exercise. And lets face it’s hard to exercise when you haven’t had enough sleep making you want to skip the gym altogether.

Benefits of Getting Enough Sleep

Getting Enough Sleep makes you Less Hungry

Our appetite is controlled by different hormones, some that turn on hunger and others that turn it off making us feel full. When we not get enough sleep we feel hungry more during the day and less satisfied so we tend to over eat. When we get enough sleep we tend to eat less.

Getting Enough Sleep Decreases Daytime Stress

You know the hormone cortisol that causes obesity is also known as the stress hormone. When you wake up from a full night of sleep cortisol is high but decline rapidly after eating breakfast (DON’T SKIP BREAKFAST). When you don’t get enough sleep your cortisol levels remain high throughout the day and interfere with your appetite and makes you feel more stressed. It also and increases the amount of fat stored.

Getting Enough Sleep Increase the Body’s Ability to Burn Calories

Your fat cells become less sensitive to insulin when your sleep deprived, so instead of your body burning food calories it stores them. When you get enough sleep it will help you burn those calories!

Getting Enough Sleep Increases Muscle Mass

Increasing your muscle mass aid in fat loss and maintenance of fat loss. Muscle burns more calories than fat. The more muscle we have the more calories we burn. When you don’t get enough sleep the body has difficulty to manufacture muscle mass.

Getting Enough Sleep Improves your memory

Getting Enough Sleep helps Increases your Life Span

Getting Enough Sleep can help reduce Inflammation

Getting Enough Sleep can help you be Creative

Getting Enough Sleep can sharpen Your ability to pay attention

Getting Enough Sleep can help you Steer clear of depression.

It’s not that if you sleep you will lose weight but if you are sleep deprived your body does not function properly. They say on average you need 7.5 hours of sleep a night. If you are already doing this you might look at a different area that might be affecting your weight. But if you are getting a lot less than this like 5 hours of sleep well increasing the amount of sleep you get will help your body to start functioning properly and lose the weight you need to along with a healthy diet and exercise.

How to Prompt Better sleep.

Turn off electronics at least a half hour before bed.

Find something that help you relax before bed to help you wind down. Reading a good book 🙂

Go to Bed at the same time every night.

Get up at the same time every morning.

Don’t exercise right before bed time. Exercise can help you sleep better but it also wakes you up more because it decrease your body secretion of melatonin.

Have a protein drink before bed. It will make you feel full and helps decrease the overnight rise in cortisol.

If you have trouble sleeping at night avoid naps during the day.

This week Weight Loss Habit Boot Camp is to work on getting enough sleep! Start out by finding a good time to go to bed and get up in the morning. Stick to the new routine! This is an area I really need to work on. I use to be better at in but then my hubby started staying up late and so did I but I still have to be up early so I need to start going to bed earlier!

How about you do you get enough sleep?

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